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- Title
DIGGING THEM OUT ALIVE.
- Authors
MILLEMANN, MICHAEL; BOWMAN-RIVAS, REBECCA; SMITH, ELIZABETH
- Abstract
This article describes the creation of the Unger Clinic, a series of interdisciplinary clinical courses taught over five years. The clinic was part of a major criminal justice project led by the Maryland Office of Public Defender. The project and clinic grew out of a Maryland court decision giving over 200 older, largely life-sentenced prisoners the right to new trials because of a remarkable and unconstitutional jury instruction that nullified the Rule of Law. The article examines the underlying law that led to the court decision, Unger v. State, and describes the Unger group. The group consisted o f237 individuals, in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, and disproportionately African American, who had been locked up on average over thirty-five years. They, reasonably, thought they would die in prison. We helped to implement Unger by providing a range of legal services and related social services to many of these older, long-incarcerated prisoners. The provision of social services was essential not only for those released and their families, but also to the success of the legal representation. In all, approximately 85% of the 236--that is, 85% of all state prisoners in Maryland convicted by juries of violent crimes before 1981--were released, with virtually no recidivism. The clinic's experience supports many criminal justice reforms, with the overriding lesson being that the continued incarceration of older, long incarcerated prisoners convicted of violent crimes serves no public safety purpose. The article also examines the pedagogical choices made, the work of the clinic, what students learned, and what we would do differently. The article concludes that the clinical education model developed--an interdisciplinary clinic working in partnership with a major legal services provider and a citizens' advocacy group--can be used effectively to address other significant access-to-justice problems nationally.
- Subjects
CRIMINAL justice education; INTERDISCIPLINARY education; CURRICULUM; PUBLIC defenders; LIFE sentences; PRISONERS; RIGHT to trial by jury; AFRICAN American criminals
- Publication
Clinical Law Review, 2019, Vol 25, Issue 2, p365
- ISSN
1079-1159
- Publication type
Article